Our Weekend Trip To NY

Last weekend, Cooper and I went to Maine.  The way I handled packing was very upsetting to Cooper.  He remained nervous through much of the weekend and it took him until tuesday to seem himself again.

This weekend we planned to go to NY.  Rather than pack on Thursday night, which would be much easier, I came home from work early to pack before we left on Friday.  This was a much more "Cooper Friendly" approach to going away for the weekend.

Jesse made a pile of items he wanted me to pack for him.  Other than that, we didn't do any preparation for our trip.  Thankfully we always try to pack light for our trips.

When I came home early from work and started packing our things, Cooper started following me around and whining.  I also had to get the house ready for an open house that was going to take place on Sunday while we were gone.  Cooper and I left the house at 2 pm to meet Jesse at his work and we left from there.  Once we were all in the same vehicle and on our way, Cooper FINALLY settled down with the idea that this would be a long trip.

We found ourselves driving directly into the sun.  We could use our visors in the car to shield ourselves from the sun, but Cooper was getting it full on.  Finally we got the idea to shield him with his blanket that I had brought along.  Cooper was laying on the seat with his head on Jesse's lap and I put the blanket behind Jesse's shoulder and he held the other end at the steering wheel with his hand.  Perfect sun protection for a panting little dog who couldn't get out of the sun.  Problem solved!

We were well on our way when it happened... ANOTHER PROBLEM!  This time it was CAR TROUBLE!  Well, truck trouble.  We were in Jesse's truck with a motorcycle on the back on it's way to NY to be given to 'Uncle Howie' from our post of 3/18/11.  The truck was making it quite clear to us that it was NOT going to make it for the nine hour trip with such a heavy load on the back.  NO WAY!

We were 130 miles from home and it was 30 miles to the next exit.  We had to turn around.  We had no real choice but to turn in a median strip... you know, the ones with the sign that says 'No U Turns'?  Yeah, that would be where we turned.

We headed directly home and arrived around 8:30, then had to go get my car at Jesse's work.  By the time things were all said and done, phone calls made, bags unpacked, etc, it was after 11 pm, but we didn't break down! Cooper had to eat on the go in the truck, and so did we by the way.  It sure was an adventure.